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Saturday, September 1, 2012

Hanuman Ki Ramayan: a nautanki-inspired perfomance encounter

Photograph: John Soans

In Feb 2012 we invited Dr. Devendra Sharma to conduct a
workshop on 'nautanki' with artistes of our repertory.

The 2-day
workshop was an eye-opener for most of us and it also inspired us to
start working on a performance using this style. We were very clear that
we did not want to re-perform or re-create any of the old nautankis as
they are for adults and not for children and young people - our target
audience. So we set about looking for stories that could be adapted into
nautanki (swaang-geet). Finally Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik's Hanuman Ki
Ramayan was chosen. The adaptation by Pt. Ram Dayal Sharma brings in the
many nuances of nautanki and uses a wide range of verses in this short
35 min piece!

This entire journey seems like an experiment, not in the form
but more an experiment on the artistes. Swaang-geet has helped us
extend ourselves as performers and understand the unique grammar of an
operatic form. Words in a song and words in operatic verse work so very
differently. It would probably have taken us years to realise this, had
it not been for this engagement with nautanki. I am sure this will
influence our approach to text, especially verse.

Photograph: John Soans

Traditionally children have been a secondary audience during
nautanki performances. In our play children become the primary audience
and adults 'tag-along'. It is our sincere effort to share with urban
audiences the 'ras' of theatre without any labels. For us it is as
contemporary as any other performative form. Not folk or traditional or
fossilised, but alive and vibrant... something with huge value to us as
performers and our audience as 'rasiks'.